Tony Clark, left, president and CEO of Northstar Bank, and Michele Barber, senior vice president of Northstar Bank, present Serve Denton representative Pat Smith a check in the amount of $2,000 during Thursday’s Denton Chamber of Commerce quarterly membership meeting.

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Denton Record-Chronicle

Published: 03 June 2012 09:46 AM

The economy continues to grow, but
relatively slow. That was part of the message delivered by Dr. Ed Seifried,
professor emeritus of economics and business at Lafayette College in Easton,
Pa., during the Denton Chamber of Commerce quarterly membership luncheon
Thursday at the University of North Texas Gateway Center.

“It’s as if the economy is waiting until the results of this
year’s election,” Seifried said. “Trouble in Europe is causing cash flows into
safe harbors, and interest rates in Germany, United Kingdom and, particularly,
the U.S., are dropping to record lows.

“However, I doubt most recent interest rate stimulus will do much
for housing or other rate-sensitive industries at this point.”

Seifried said interest rates have hit rock bottom and are close
to zero, and since there is no negative interest rate, it could be a good time
for small businesses to consider renovations to their facilities and for
homeowners to consider refinancing.

He advised keeping interest rates near zero until at least 2014,
the year rates are expected to increase, according to the Federal Open Market
Committee.

During his presentation, Seifried spent a good amount of time
focusing on the country’s energy independence movement.

“I believe if we can find the political will to continue
exploration and recovery, the movement will be difficult to stop,” he said. “It
seems clear we have very robust and deep supplies of natural gas throughout
many regions of the country.

“We need market forces to help ratchet up the demand for this
fuel so an equilibrium price level can be reached in the market that will
satisfy both producers and consumers.”

Seifried pointed to Peterbilt and other companies like it that
are already switching its vehicles to natural gas and allowing the country to
become more energy independent.

“Once that occurs, investors will be pleasantly surprised as the
GDP [gross domestic product] growth rate moves to higher and higher levels,” he
said. “We can also anticipate significant job growth once the energy
independence movement moves forward.”

Also, during the chamber event, Tony Clark, president and CEO of
Northstar Bank, and Michele Barber, senior vice president, provided a $2,000
donation to Serve Denton, a new local nonprofit organization dedicated to
advancing and helping other nonprofits in Denton County.

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Linwood-Alford Florist and Oxide Gallery will be moving from 501
W. Hickory to 231 W. Hickory St. by Aug. 1.

Warren Hooper, owner of Linwood-Alford Florist, said moving to a
new location will allow the business to be closer to Denton’s historic downtown
Square. It will also allow the business to become a more active part of the
local community.

In addition to a new location of 3,000 square feet, the business
will introduce a new name: Oxide Fine Art & Floral Gallery.

“This new concept combines the best of Linwood-Alford Florists’
floral talent with Oxide’s dedication to showcasing the talents of our local
artists,” Hooper wrote in an e-mail.

Hooper called it a natural merging of the two businesses into one
unified vision.

“The flower shop has been changing for the past year into
something more, and this is the final step in that change. The new name fits my
new vision for the future.”

For more information, visit the Facebook page under “Oxide
Gallery.”

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The Aldi grocery chain will open its latest store in Dallas on
Thursday.

The new store will showcase Aldi’s new look with higher ceilings,
improved natural lighting and environmentally friendly building materials such
as recycled materials and energy-saving refrigeration and light bulbs,
according to a news release.

Additionally, Aldi will also open another store in Cedar Hill on
June 21.

Aldi opened 75 stores in the United States in 2011 and plans to
open more than 80 stores by the end of this year. ALDI has approximately 1,200
U.S. stores located in 32 states.

When asked about a possible Denton Aldi grocery store, Charlie
Rice-Minoso, a spokesman with Weber and Shandwick public relations firm, said
the company has plans to open a Denton location next year.

“However, we cannot provide specific dates or locations at this
time,” he wrote in an e-mail.

The company has a 500,000-square-foot distribution center in
Denton but, as of yet, no local supermarket.

Basic broadband is available to 97.08 percent of Texas
households, up from 96.76 percent last October, leaving 260,419 (180,000 rural)
state households unable to connect to basic, non-mobile, high-speed Internet.

The findings were part of a report released Thursday by Connected
Texas, an entity that wants increased broadband Internet access, adoption and
use across the state.

This release reflects Con­nected Texas’ fifth round of broadband
data updates to the National Telecommunications and Information Administra­tion,
a news release said.

The data, gathered as part of the State Broadband Initiative
program, is used to populate the National Broadband Map.

The findings are also part of the very first Broadband Summit to
take place Tuesday in Dallas.

A U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II Aerial Demonstration will be
featured at the 2012 Denton Airshow on June 16.

The event will also feature Ray Kinney in the Com­memorative Air
Force FG1D Corsair, Mike Gallaway in the Extra 300, Aaron Taylor in his T-6
Texan, Adam Baker in the Pitts S2, the Texas Twisters, Andrew Wright and many
more attractions.

Static displays will include both modern and vintage aircraft to
celebrate Father’s Day weekend, according to a news press release.

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